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TRUTH SERIES NO. 1. 
AUG. 15, 1918. 



WOMAN'S COMMITTEE,^ COUNCIL OF 
NATIONAL DEFENSE, DEPARTMENT 
OF EDUCATIONAL PROPAGANDA. 



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BE A TRUTH-TELLER. 

HELP FIGHT THE BATTLE OVER HERE. 
FIRE THESE FACTS FOR UNCLE SAM. 



We have now over 1 ,000,000 men in France. 



2. During the first 10 days of May, 1918, we sent 90,000 soldiers to Europe. 



3. Within 10 weeks after we entered the war our first contingent landed safely in France and was soon followed 
by other units. 

4. Do you laiow that American destroyers arrived at a British port to assist in patrolling European waters, 
28 days after the declaration of war? 



5. Last December this Government was officially mformed by France and Great Britain that their production 
of field, medium, and heavy artillery, had been established on so vast a scale that all American divisions which would 
arrive in France during 1918 could readily be equipped with the best type of British and French guns and howitzers. 



6. Within three weeks after the declaration of war the French and British High Commissions were in 
Washington conferring with us regarding war plans. 



7. There are now 45,000 Americans engaged on railroad construction and operation in France, and 22,000 
standard gauge freight cars and 1 ,600 Icccmctives have been produced in this country for service on the double- 
track railroad from the French coast to the battle front. Additicnal purchases of both cars and locomotives have 
been made abroad. 



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8. Germany forced war upon the United States and to defend ourselves and to preserve democracy Congress 
had no choice but to resolve, "That the state of war between the United States and the Imperial German Govefh- 
ment which has thus been thrust upon the United States is hereby formally declared." 

What were the acts of Germany that brought us into this "state of war"? 

The military masters of Germany denied us the right to be neutral. 

They filled our unsuspecting communities with vicious spies and conspirators. 

Their agents diligently spread sedition among us and sought to draw our own citizens from their allegiance, 
and some of these agents were men connected with the official embassy of the German Government itself here in our 
Capital. 

They sought by violence to destroy our mdustries and arrest our commerce. 

They tried to incite Mexico to take up arms against us and to draw Japan into a hostile allegiance with her. 

They impudently denied us the right of the high seas, tore up and disregarded their promises, and ruthlessly 
murdered our men, women, and children upon the seas. 

Every such act of Germany was an act of war against the United States. 

9. The United States is now building more destroyers than there were in any other two navies before 1914, 
and in addition it is hurrymg the construction of submarine chasers and other types of similar ships, and likewise 
is providing sea-planes. 

10. Our Government compensates its soldiers for the rest of their lives if they are disabled, by giving them as 
high as $100 a month for total disability, and teaching them new trades if necessary, so that they can make a living. 



1 1 . Do you know that no nation since civilization dawned has undertaken the task of colossal warfare so far 
from its base as has the American Republic in this world conflict? 



12. During the Civil War the income tax was 3 per cent to 1 5 per cent, and every income as low as $600 was 
taxed. In this war, in the case of a married man, no income less than $2,000 is taxed at all, and of an unmarried 
man none less than $1 ,000. 

13. In May of last year the difference between what the farmer got for his wheat and the wholesale price of 
flour was $5.68 a barrel. In early May of this year the difference amounted to 64 cents. 

In May, 1917, the wholesale price of flour at Minneapolis was $16.75 a barrel, and it was predicted it would 
go to $20 and higher. In early May of this year the price of flour was $9.80 a barrel, a decrease of 41 per cent. 
This is what the Food Administration has accomplished in the face of the shortage of last year's crop. 



1 4. Contrary to rumors which are being spread by German propagandists, everything is being done to dispatch 
letters to the boys overseas. The Second Assistant Postmaster General is authority for the statement that during 
the first three weeks of May, 1918, lour ships carried across the Atlantic 3,297,000 letters, of which 2,142,000 
were conveyed by two ships. 

1 5. Germany's crime against the world is in introducing into modern warfare barbarities unknown in the days 
of barbarism, and far more brutal than any barbarians had been able to introduce. What did she do? 

It was Germany that torpedoed neutral ships. 

It was Germany that destroyed hospital ships and field hospitals. 

It was Germany that shot hostages. 

It was Germany that used explosive bullets. 

It was Germany that dropped the first bombs on non-combatants. 

Such outrageous war practices of Germany have allied 28 countries against her. 

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?■; 16. In July, 1918, fifteen months after we went to war with the Huns, Secretary Baker made a summary of 

V\what the War Department had accomplished in that time. This report shows that there were in July 106,400 

officers and 2,010,000 men with the colors, compared with a total of 9,524 officers and 202,510 men in the Regular 

Army and National Guard when war was declared. 



1 7. The death rate per thousand among the troops in the United States for the week ending June 7 was 4. 1 4 
against the rate of 20.14 in the Regular Army in the United States in 1898 and 5.13 in 1916. On June 5 the 
capacity of the hospitals in the United States was 72,667 beds, with new hospitals with 14,677 beds under con- 
struction. In France hospital facilities are being provided for from 5 to 10 per cent of the whole expeditionary 
force, while the Army Hospital Corps is now composed of 24,000 officers and 148,000 enlisted men, exclusive of 
the Sanitary Corps and Army nurses. 

1 8. Do you know that there are between 200 and 300 German Lutheran parochial schools in Nebraska which 
teach the elementary subjects in German, and in which the German national hymn is sung as part of school routine? 

In some of these German Lutheran schools children are whipped for speaking English. 



19. While the German Government has been preparing for this war during the last 40 years, here is what 
the United States was doing at the end of 40 weeks, in the way of furnishing transportation facilities for war needs: 

It was operating a big railroad system in a foreign country with success. 

It was nearing completion the largest merchant marine in the world, with storage facilities on both sides of 
the ocean. 

It had dredged a foreign harbor, providing berths for 40 ships to be docked at one time. 

It had begun operation under Government control of 226,000 miles of railroad in the United States. 



20. The amount of pay which our soldiers now get while training and fighting is 4 times as much as the British 
soldier gets, 18 times as much as the French, and 9 times as much as the German. 



2 1 . If Germany should win this war the United States would have to pay such an enormous indemnity that 
our taxes for many years would far exceed any taxes that would be necessary to win the war. 

22. Monsieur Billy, of the French Embassy, in a public address said that " No Man's Land " has already been 
nicknamed "Yankee Land " because of the great eagerness of our boys to get into it. 

Secretary Baker tells us that it was necessary to change the name of the zone behind the armies from the "Service 
of the Rear " to the "Service of Supply," because of the difficulty in getting men to serve in a region having such a 
bomb-proof name. 

23. When the colored soldiers from South Africa faced the Germans they gave the Huns a shock that they 
have never recovered from, but the Germans now are more afraid of our American colored troops than they were 
of the English black fighters. Besides, England has only a few thousand black men among her ranks, while America 
will soon have more than 250,000 colored soldiers at the front. 



24. Unquestionably the most fiendish use to which chemistry has been put in connection with the war is in 
the preparation of poisonous gases. It was in April, 1915, that the Germans launched their first gas attack. In 
spite of having learned a week before from a deserter of the preparations that the Germans were making, the whole 
scheme was so unbelievable to the English that no protection was thought of. Consequently the Germans claimed 
in this attack 6,000 dead and as many more prisoners. 



LIBRfiRY OF CONGRESS 



021 394 468 A % 
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25. The Kaiser and the German war staff started the war. How do we know? Well, here are two of the 
many things that prove it: The German ambassador to Turkey, Wangenheim, was called to a meeting in Potsdam 
on July 5, and after returning to Constantinople in a flush of vanity and sure of victory he told our ambassador to 
Turkey the details of this meeting at which war was decided upon and arranged for. Two weeks, it was found, 
would be necessary for the bankers to make ready. In two weeks and three days the Serbian ultimatum was sent ! 

More than a month before the assassination of the Grand Duke, Emperor Francis Joseph said to his Turkish 
ambassador, the Marquis Pallavicini, that there would be a European war. The Pan-German plans in the East, 
he explained, necessitated the destruction of Serbia, which so long as it stood intact blocked the Germanic road to 
the East. 

The war, therefore, would have come irrespective of the assassination of the Grand Duke. 



26. Germany in its war book deliberately and systematically repudiates, on the ground of "necessity," the 
principles of civilized warfare embodied in The Hague Convention. This is the first time in the history of man- 
kind that a creed so revolting has been deliberately formulated by a great civilized State. 



27. In July, 1918, the total amount of wheat sent to our allies for a year amounted to 120,000,000 bushels, or 
1 2 times the normal surplus at our pre-war rate of consumption. 

28. In three months the Cantonment Division of the Quartermaster General's Department built 1 6 cantonments, 
each comprising about 1,400 separate buildings and providing quarters for 47,000 men. Over 22,000 individual 
buildings of many types were erected for the housing of the National Army while in training. 



29. This is the gastronomic history of an American transport m a recent voyage as given in the vessel's own 
journal printed aboard: 

2 1 0,000 meals were served during the trip. 

1 80 varieties of food were used in varying the menus. 

750,000 pounds, 3,750 tons of food were carried. 

Besides flour, potatoes and beef, the Big Three, there were — 

159,000 pounds of fresh vegetables and 132,000 eggs waiting to be served. 

7,290 loaves of bread baked and eaten in one day. 



30. Do you know that one $100 bond will clothe a soldier or will feed a soldier for eight months? 
Do you know that one $ 1 00 bond and one $50 bond will clothe and equip an Infantry soldier for service overseas 
or will feed a soldier for a year? 



31. On June 5, 1917, nearly 10,000,000 men between the ages of 21 and 31 years registered for service, 
assuring the Nation of an inexhaustible supply of men. 



32. The War Department has authorized the statement that protection against any of the gases in use by the 
Germans is given to American soldiers by the masks now being worn. As an added precaution the soldiers are 
provided with a neutralizing ointment to be rubbed on those parts of the body where mustard gas is likely to pene- 
trate through the clothes. The first month's shipment of this ointment consisted of 800,000 tubes. For the protection 
of the men whose duty it is to clear trenches of all traces of gases, special underwear is being provided. 



WASHINGTON : GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE : 1918 



.IS" 

1918 



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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



021 394 468 A 



Hollinger Corp. 
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